Media - Children of Alcoholics Week 12-18 February 2012
Children of Alcoholics Week 12-18 February 2012
The National Association for Children of Alcoholics (Nacoa) continues to raise awareness of the one million children living with an alcohol-dependent parent by holding its fourth COA Week in February 2012.
Last year’s event saw celebrity support from Calum Best, Elle Macpherson, Sir Ben Kingsley, Kim Woodburn and Marco Pierre White.
For 2012, Nacoa wants COA Week to reach even more people. Media agencies, businesses, charities and the general public are all invited to get in touch to find out how they can get involved or visit www.coaweek.org.uk for more details.
Hilary Henriques, co-founder of the charity, explains: “For many children a Nacoa volunteer will be the first person they tell about a parent’s drinking. The fear of being “taken away” or “betraying” their family means that they keep it a secret. Our work is crucial because as a first point of contact our trained volunteers can help children to make healthy decisions for themselves, regardless of whether their parents continue to drink or not. We would like to invite other charities and organisations to work with us in promoting COA Week so that we can overcome the stigma surrounding this issue and break the cycle of addiction”.
Nacoa Patron, Elle Macpherson states “Without help these children become lost in the system; they grow up feeling un-noticed at best and abused at worst. Nacoa’s work is all about planning for a positive future – helping them to transform their negative beliefs about themselves into an ‘I can do’ attitude”.
“I rang your line last year, when I could not take it any longer and I will never forget the lady who chatted to me for two hours and calmed me down by actually understanding where I was coming from in a way my friends and family never did.” Jane (17)
In 2010 Nacoa received over 20,000 helpline calls.
Further information and quotes from the celebrities are available on request
Please help to publicise this important week
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Contact:
Alison Jarvis
Communications
0117 924 8005/ 07958 649641
coaweek@nacoa.org.uk
Editors Notes: *
- Children of Alcoholics Week is celebrated internationally during the week in which Valentine’s Day falls. 2012 is the 4th year the event has been held in the UK. The website www.coaweek.org.uk offers suggestions of ways to get involved and contains downloadable resources.
- There are an estimated 920,000 children (under 18s) living with parental alcoholism in the UK today.
- There are an estimated 2.8 million adults who grew up with parental alcoholism in the UK today.
- Children living with parental alcoholism are:
o Twice as likely to experience difficulties at school
o Three times as likely to develop alcoholism
o Twice as likely to develop drug addiction
o Five times as likely to develop an eating disorder
o Twice as likely to be in trouble with the police
o Three times as likely to consider suicide
o Six times as likely to witness domestic violence
- Nacoa (registered charity no. 1009143) was founded in 1990 to provide information, advice and support for children of alcohol-dependent parents and others concerned with their welfare. This is provided through a free and confidential telelphone and email helpline and website [Helpline: 0800 358 3456, Email: helpline@nacoa.org.uk, website: www.nacoa.org.uk]
- Nacoa has responded to over 200,000 calls since 1990.
- Download Nacoa’s Information for Media.
- For more information about Maria McAteer and her music please visit http://mariamcateer.com
* Source: The National Association for Children of Alcoholics
